Unsung work ethic

Everyone recognizes firefighters as heroes. They’re seen on the news, in advertisements, or as stars of television series where they’re often associated with big city departments, along with big city pay, benefits and training.

Not to say any of it is undeserved, but Holden has a group of unsung heroes, volunteer call firefighters who complete their training on their own time, after working other full-time jobs. They sacrifice sleep and days off, without much more reward than knowing they’ve served the town and department well.

Ryan Mouradian, Joshua Johnson and Ryan LaPrade graduated from the Call/ Volunteer Firefighter Training class at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in Stow earlier this spring. With 50 other trainees from 30 fire departments, they attended the Academy two nights a week and every other Saturday for six months. Five written exams, along with a state certification exam are required to graduate from the Academy.

“Becoming a firefighter was my childhood dream,” Johnson, 26, a grocery sales manager at Big Y Foods at Holden Commons said. Along with Mouradian, 23, he came up through the Explorer program that gives teens an early exposure to firefighting. “It kind of hooks you,” Mouradian, a civil engineer said. LaPrade works at Lundgren Collision Center and attended the academy with the hope of transitioning to a full-time firefighting career.

Academy training is split between lecture and hands-on sessions. Trainees must master responses to chemical and environmental emergencies, everything from carbon monoxide detection to gas leaks. How to respond to ice rescues, car accidents and more ordinary household calls are all part of the training.

The more traditional aspects of fighting fires are covered as well – how to wear the gear, handling ladders, running hose, working with knots and ropes and learning to handle other tools of the trade are all covered in detail.

“It’s life threatening if the equipment is not working right. You have to have confidence in your instructor and in handling the equipment, so you can go into a burning building safely,” Hoffman said.

Academy training is done under nonfire and then controlled fire conditions.

The controlled chaos of a fire site is something they all have a taste for.

“You get a surge of adrenaline every time the tone goes off,” Johnson said.

The day after their Academy graduation, the three newly minted firefighters had a chance to test their skills at a house fire on Sunnyside Ave. Their job was to put out the “hot spots” that flared around the structure, Johnson said.

They’re quick to credit their in-house training at Holden Fire for giving them a leg up on their classmates at the Academy.

“Once you’ve been trained on everything, you can just go on any vehicle, handle any piece of equipment,” LaPrade said.

The most important piece of equipment that they were trained on was the 50-pound suits they wear to each fire. You get just one minute to don the protective gear, and another 45 seconds to get the self contained breathing apparatus going properly.

The suit is even more important now than in years past, Hoffman said.

“In the old days, it was ‘surround and drown.’ Now the approach is to go inside buildings,” he said.

The Academy also brought in NStar and other utilities to educate the recruits on gas clean-up of liquid natural gas and other hazardous materials. They also learned about fire suppression materials to treat chemical fires like liquid natural gas.

The firefighters remembered a vivid demonstration at the Academy when an LNG pit was filled and lit on fire.

Water will intensify the fire and increase the dispersion of the gas’s dangerous vapors, so intense training is required to keep a dangerous situation under control.

The Fire Academy graduation was standing room only, with entire families showing up, a tribute to the difficulty and intensity of the experience. Besides receiving their Firefighter Training certificates, the graduates also became part of the close knit firefighter family.

“It truly is a brotherhood,” LaPrade said. “You felt that from everyone you met there.”

“It’s a unique relationship,” Mouradian said.

Mouradian has already had five years with the department, Johnson has three and LaPrade has one year under his belt. They look forward to the challenge of firefighting in Holden for a long time, and appreciate the training they’ve had, in spite of the long hours.